RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 4 Judges: Think Glee, Modern Family!

Mercedes, Gurl: RuPaul vamps with Glee's Amber Riley on the set of Drag Race Season 4

RuPaul’s Drag Race is coming soon! By soon, I mean January 2012… You know how long it takes for drag queens to get ready. But today there’s news about some of the guest judges who’ll be sharing the judges’ table with RuPaul, and weekly judges Michelle Visage and Santino Rice.

We’re talking stars of Glee and Modern Family, for starters! Yup, TV Guide reports that both Amber Riley (Glee’s Mercedes) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) will turn up with the turned-out queens in Season 4. And other judges sashaying by for visits will include Jennifer Love Hewitt, Rose McGowan, Loretta Devine, and Kelly Osbourne. More judges have yet to be announced.

In a "Modern Family" way: Ru gets up close and personal with guest judge Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Apparently both Riley and Ferguson are very, very excited about their upcoming stints on Drag Race. “This show does something very special for the gay community,” explains Ferguson to TV Guide. “There’s a message hidden inside the totally gaudy package that is so fun to watch. It’s all about loving and accepting yourself, and every season I’m surprisingly moved by it.”

“I was so excited to do this I started screaming,” echoes Riley, who sneaked backstage to see the men transform into ladies. “I am a very big RuPaul fan. She’s absolutely gorge. I just had to make sure my hair and makeup were done right if I was in front of drag queens!”

Amber also hopes her Glee character, Mercedes, will be given a gender-bending kid brother when the series brings on cross-dressing Glee Project runner-up, Alex Newell, later this season for his two-episode arc. “Alex seems so liberated when he’s in drag,” Amber says. “It would be great for younger Glee fans to see a character like that.”